Friday, September 8, 2017

Why Some COGs Deny Climate Change

It is becoming increasingly clear that climate change is happening. The excess emission of carbon dioxide, methane and other heat trapping greenhouse gases are making our planet hotter, adversely affecting the weather. With a warmer ocean hurricanes which are powered by the heat in the ocean beneath it are now more powerful than they were in the past and are occurring more often.

With so much evidence available that this is the case why is it that some within the COGs' 1% are in denial about this topic? Let us take PCG's leader, Gerald Flurry, as an example of this denial.

In America, the news media are filled with reporting on Hurricane Harvey. But none of them are talking about WHY such an unparalleled catastrophe is hitting one of America’s major cities! A few have tried to blame carbon emissions, which is terribly incorrect. None would even consider speaking of that storm as a CURSE on our nation. None would consider the possibility that GOD may have anything to say about it! But God has a LOT to say about it! And if you are [reading or listening to what PCG produces] you know that. If you’ve read our booklet [name], then you have an excellent overview of the Bible’s many passages explaining the spiritual significance of events like the one hitting Houston. (Gerald Flurry, A Message from the Editor-in-Chief, September 4, 2017.)

If he admitted that the excess emission of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases are adversely affecting the weather then he can't say that Hurricane Harvey and other natural disasters are some sort of curse upon America. He can't say that your conduct contrary to his teachings are somehow causing the hurricanes.

The climate change deniers within the COGs' 1% can't exploit the hurricanes to control you if they admitted that climate change is real.

No wonder some within the COGs' 1% are in such denial about climate change.

And as evidenced by typhoons and hurricanes this year, you could add, more frequent.Some years ago I saw a diagram from PennState tracing the the possible future effects of climate change, and it was far more accurate than our band of COGprophets. Why are all are COGs giving specific warnings after the event? Why didn't one of them warn the inhabitants of Barbuda? Is my understanding wrong of what a prophet is supposed to do?

Let's say that your toilet exploded and was flooding your bathroom. Would you turn off that water line and pump out the water, or leave it on and dump more in? Now mind you, the people who deny that man-made greenhouse gases are causing global climate change admit that all previous instances of climate change were actually accompanied by greater carbon content in the atmosphere. That admission is great news! It means that since we know that industrialized mankind is responsible for producing massive amounts of C02, this time around, should we choose to exercise it, we humans have some control in the process! It's like preparing for an earthquake or a hurricane. We can make the impact less bad!

Unfortunately, ACOG members have been conditioned to believe that keeping the sabbath, will make it less bad. And, most people who have left Armstrongism are burned out on being manipulated by apocalypses, so they knee-jerk attempt to repudiate even the possibility that global climate change could present a science-based global extinction event as opposed to an Armstrongism based one. The majoriy of the people who are clustered at each pole don't have a heck of a lot of sense or objectivity. But, the evidence continues to stream in. The threat and remedies are becoming more and more difficult to deny. If it's not already too late, I believe improved technology will resolve the problem. Don't get me wrong. I love a big block Chevy engine running dual quads, hooker headers, and a Duntov 30-30 cam. That speaks to my soul. But, if Tesla technology can save the planet for my offspring, bring on the electrics! We shouldn't be listening to the paid advocates of the fossil fuel industries any more than the advocates for tetraethyl lead, or the tobacco industry of the past. The robber-barons and their shills always lie when it is to their advantage. They are just criminal exploitationists who want us on their side.

You gave us a chart with raw numbers related to one specific drill site. This becomes more interesting when one digs deeper and begins to read the ways in which the scientific community has interpreted this data through their normal process of peer review. Ice core samples from Greenland also exist and tell a somewhat different story about lag time.

The present seems to be unique in many ways, starting with the era of industrialization. As an example, no CFCs are present in ice samples prior to the 1950s. Distinct layers of ice cannot even be accurately differentiated beyond 55,000 years ago. Also, ice often started out as snow, which was later compressed into ice. Gas gets trapped by ice, but can gradually rise, and pass through snow, which would put it into later layers.

So, no. These Vostok cores are not conclusive evidence against either climate change, or prove that the climate change is not influenced by mankind. If you simply hear of this set of samples, and don't do further research, they can function somewhat like proof-texting. We all know where that takes us. Dispelling the notion that CO2 was a precursor to climate change throughout past history does not apply to our own unique period in history. We know for a fact that since the start of the industrial revolution, man has been doing things to the environment that dinosaurs, wooly mammoths, and sabre toothed tigers could not do. These former denizens of planet Earth did not release CFCs and tetraethyl lead into the environment, did not choke, decimate, and kill the oceans, did not perform nuclear testing, did not fumigate and broadcast chemicals into the atmosphere internationally with jet engines, and did not facillitate overpopulation of their own species.Man is unique as a creature in being capable of seriously altering natural cycles.

Bob, you wrote "These former denizens of planet Earth did not release CFCs and tetraethyl lead into the environment, did not choke, decimate, and kill the oceans, did not perform nuclear testing, did not fumigate and broadcast chemicals into the atmosphere internationally with jet engines, and did not facillitate overpopulation of their own species." I was not speaking of these. Of course you are right about these. It will take a very long time for the crap we put into the earth to break down.

I was speaking about climate change. By the way, how much co2 does a volcano spew forth?

Volcanos spew a lot of CO2! So do lightning-induced forest fires, and warming oceans. In fact, one of the concerns of marine biologists right now is the bleaching (indicative of death) of large and ancient coral reefs around the world. These are not only beautiful and stupendous to behold, they are also the backbone of huge ecology systems which feed island nations. The cause of the bleaching is warmer ocean temperatures.

We must remember that in order for life to exist, there are a number of fixed ratios which have very limited deviation, or various forms of life would bot be able to continue to exist. The vast rain forests in the earlier part of our lives used to take in CO2, and H20, and in the presence of sunlight, convert those to oxygen. Unfortunately, thousands and thousands of acres of rain forest are being clear-cut each year, reducing planet Earth's ability to deal with CO2, just as they are needed not less, but more!

The sixth major extinction (Halocene), which is ongoing right now, is far more comprehensive than just CO2 and global climate change, and it is totally human-induced by a species which has not yet learned to be good stewards of the earth. Based on fossil records covering millions of years, we have experienced an extinction rate since 1900 that is 1,000 times the background extinction rate which is normal for the stable periods in between mass extinctions, and all of the current extinction is human-induced. Within the past 30 years, we've entered a period of escalation. As I stated elsewhere, in a short time, there isn't even going to be room to debate all of this. Escalation means that it's just going to become more and more intense and therefore self-evident.

It's a shame. It's probably already irreversible, as people still debate whether it is real. But, as with hurricanes and earthquakes, we can minimize the damage. Technology may retard the process, or remedy the situation, but it is going to require global cooperation if we have a ghost of a chance.

I was reading an article just today about international shipping. Because of the massive melting of Arctic ice, some international shippers can now save time, fuel, and money using the Northwest Passage as opposed to taking the route through the Panama Canal.

If You are new please read this

Hand in Hand for Syria

Keep Somalia's Remittances Open

I encourage readers to sign this petition from Oxfam calling upon the U.S. government to let the Somali diaspora continue to send remittance to their loved ones in Somalia.

Moves have been made to shut down such remittances from Somalis in America. Many Somalis need these remittances. The remittances to Somalia are larger than foreign aid contributions and are a lifeline to these people caught in trouble and turmoil.

It is true that HWA said that some Eastern European states would break away from Moscow's orbit and join the European Empire he said would arise at any moment. But he never talked of the Soviet Union collapsing. He did not teach that. Also he portrayed the rise of the European Empire to be far quicker then what has actually happened. In Mystery of the Ages Christ was supposed to return by 2005 at the most.

So assertions that the fall of the Berlin Wall somehow prove that HWA was right is just complete nonsense spread by people who, for whatever reason, are still in denial that HWA was a false prophet who merely talked out of his own "human reasoning".

Truth about Roderick C. Meredith

What sort of man is he? A man who could say things like this.

"Mr. Armstrong has reminded us again that we are to disfellowship any members who attend GTA's [Garner Ted Armstrong's] campaigns, church services or other meetings. Some of our weaker members apparently do not realize that this man is in direct rebellion against God and His government! We must not allow them, or ourselves, to rationalize about this matter, to try to "help the underdog," or in any other way lend support to one whose gross immorality, whose long standing "play acting" and hypocrisy, and whose direct insubordination to the Government of God has long been and is now a source of confusion and DIVISION among God's people. So, as per Mr. Armstrong's instruction, I charge and exhort every one of you faithful ministers of the living Christ to explain this in no uncertain terms to your members, to warn them about this cause of division and then to disfellowship any who consort with GTA or any of his fellows." (Roderick C. Meredith, Pastor's Report, May 21, 1979, pp. 1-2.)

David Robinson on Roderick C. Meredith

"During the ten years I have been an employee of the Worldwide Church, you have been poorly spoken of by most of the ministers and employees I have known. I vividly remember the absolute unbounded glee that was openly expressed by a good number of respected men in the church when you were first "shanghaied." [In 1972.] I could begin by naming names, which I am sure would shock you. I was one of the few who stood, where possible, for you. Your tenure as superintendent of ministers, as I believe the office was then called, was looked on as nightmarish. While you held office during the years of growth, most of those whom I know gave you very little credit for that growth. Almost everyone whom I know, whether they be former friends of yours, or continuing foes, recalls insensitive and terrible things you have done. Without exception, at least among my acquaintances, they all credit you with an unbridled lust for power and list you as one who is willing to pay the price of gaining that power, no matter what. I have, through many of the last few years, believed you had principles you would not violate. Many a man of experience in the church assured me of my error. Events have proven me wrong and them right. Mr. Armstrong has himself been widely quoted as saying of you that you were so righteous that you were so "righteous you were unrighteous." " (David Robinson, Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web, Chapter 16, p. 207.)

Of course it is impossible for me to personally verify these assertions but people deserve to know what this knowledgeable man had to say about him.